You KNOW Where That Is, Don't You?

Welcome To Hickville.

I come from a small area that many would consider a hick town - although McComb is quite large as towns in Mississippi go. And I guess it's no wonder that I settled in what could be called the most hick part of Los Angeles. I don't think anyone has ever taken a census on this but it wouldn't surprise me to learn we have more horses than people here.

And while this town wouldn't look like anything more than a grouping of nail salons and auto repair shops to someone passing through, this place suits me. I love that it's size is limited by three mountains and a freeway. And most of the people here work hard at their jobs, come home and work on their yard or some artistic pursuit, hit the hay at a decent hour and do it all again.

But if there is one thing that gets my dander up, regardless of how small and unsophisticated a town is, it is poor writing. Even when growing up in my Mississippi hick town, it was impressed upon me that we were expected to write well. Every poster on campus required the signature of three English teachers.

If only Sunland had such a rule. The subject of my ire is these posters appearing around town:

All good advertising is like a hard news story. You need the basics: Who, What, Where, When, Why and sometimes, How? And these posters seem to missing some of those details.

It reminds me of being on location in Argentina. It is customary, when a crew is on location and not filming at a studio, to include a map with the next day's call sheet. Whenever we phoned our location manager to inquire as to the whereabouts of tomorrow's map, the answer was always the same: "Everybody knows where that is!" And I would reply, "I don't."

I'm sure the group that is sponsoring the fireworks would say, "Oh, everyone knows." But what about newcomers? Or heaven forbid, give us locals a time to show up!

And really, if you're not going to give passersby all the details, wouldn't the advertising money that Bank of America and the myriad of other sponsors paid be better spent on - um... MORE fireworks?

See ya at the fireworks show... It's after the parade... You DO know about the parade, don't you?